Secret Memoirs by Henry W Fischer

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Title: Secret Memoirs: The Story of Louise, Crown Princess

Author: Henry W. Fischer

Release Date: June 19, 2009 [EBook #29167]

Language: English

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Secret Memoirs

THE COURT OF ROYAL SAXONY

1891-1902

This edition, printed on Japanese vellum paper, is limited to two hundred and fifty copies.

No. ________

LOUISE, EX-CROWN-PRINCESS OF SAXONY
Photo taken shortly before her flight from Dresden

THE STORY OF LOUISE CROWN PRINCESS

FROM THE PAGES OF HER DIARY, LOST AT THE TIME OF HER ELOPEMENT FROM DRESDEN WITH

M. ANDRÉ ("RICHARD") GIRON

BY

HENRY W. FISCHER

Author of "Private Lives of William II and His Consort," "Secret History of the Court of Berlin," etc., etc.

Illustrated from Photographs

BENSONHURST, NEW YORK FISCHER'S FOREIGN LETTERS, INC. PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1912

By HENRY W. FISCHER

Copyright, 1912, applied for by Henry W. Fischer in Great Britain

Copyright, 1912, by Henry W. Fischer, in Germany, France, Austria,
Switzerland, and all foreign countries having international copyright

arrangements with the United States

[All rights reserved, including those of translation]

EDITOR'S CARD

This is to certify that the Ex-Crown Princess of Saxony, now called Countess Montiguoso, Madame Toselli by her
married name, is in no way, either directly or indirectly, interested in this publication.

There has been no communication of whatever nature, directly or through a third party, between this lady and the editor
or publishers. In fact, the publication will be as much a surprise to her as to the general public.

The Royal Court of Saxony, therefore, has no right to claim, on the ground of this publication, that Princess Louise
violated her agreement with that court as set forth in the chapter on the Kith and Kin of the ex-Crown Princess of
Saxony, under the heads of "Louise's Alimony and Conditions" and "Allowance Raised and a Further Threat."

Henry W. Fischer, Editor.
Fischer's Foreign Letters, Publishers

THIS BOOK AND ITS PURPOSE

By Henry W. Fischer

Of Memoirs that are truly faithful records of royal lives, we have a few; the late Queen Victoria led the small number of
crowned autobiographists only to discourage the reading of self-satisfied royal ego-portrayals forever, but in the Story
of Louise of Saxony we have the main life epoch of a Cyprian Royal, who had no inducement to say anything false and
is not afraid to say anything true.

For the Saxon Louise wrote not to guide the hand of future official historiographers, or to make virtue distasteful to
some sixty odd grand-children, bored to death by the recital of the late "Mrs. John Brown's" sublime goodness:—
Louise wrote for her own amusement, even as Pepys did when he diarized the peccadilloes of the Second Charles'
English and French "hures" (which is the estimate these ladies put upon themselves).[1]

The ex-Crown Princess of Saxony suffered much in her youth by a narrow-minded, bigoted mother, a Sadist like the
monstrous Torquemada; marriage, she imagined, spelled a rich husband, more lover than master; freedom from tyranny,
paltry surroundings, interference. To her untutored mind, life at the Saxon Court meant right royal splendor, liberty to do
as one pleases, the companionship of agreeable, amusing and ready-to-serve friends.

The Sad Saxon Court

Her experience? Instead of the Imperial mother who took delight in cutting her children's faces with diamonds and
exposing her daughters to the foul machinations of worthless teachers—she acquired a father-in-law (Prince, afterwards
King George) whose pretended affection was but a share of his all-encompassing hatred, whose breath was a serpent's,
whose veins were flowing with gall; the supposed chevaleresque husband turned out a walking dictionary of petty
indecencies and gross vulgarities when in a favorable mood, a brawler at other times, a coward always.

As to money—Louise wished for nothing better "than to be an American multi-millionaire's daughter for a week"!
Amusements were few and frowned upon.

Liberty? None outside of a general permit to eat, drink and couple like animals in pasture, was recognized or tolerated.
Nor could the royal young woman make friends. Her relatives-by-marriage were mostly freaks, and all were
unbearable; her entourage a collection of spies and flunkeys.

If charity-bazaars, pious palaver, and orphaned babies' diapers had not been the sole topic of conversation at court; if
there had been intellectual enjoyment of any kind, Louise might never have taken up her pen. As it was: "This Diary is
intended to contain my innermost thoughts, my ambitions, my promises for the future, Myself. * * * These pages are my
Father-Confessor. I confess to myself. * * * And as I start in writing letters to myself, it occurs to me that my worse
self may be corresponding with my better self, or vice-versa."

At any rate she thinks "this Diary business will be quite amusing."

Louise's Amusing Writings

It is. The world always laughs at the—husband of a woman whose history isn't one long yawn.

Nor is Louise content with a bust picture.[2] She gives full length portraits of herself, family, friends, enemies, and lovers,
which latter she picks hap-hazard among commoners and the nobility. Only one of them was a prince of the blood, and
he promptly proved the most false and dishonorable of the lot.

When Louise's pen-pictures do not deal with her amororos, they focus invariably emperors and princes, kings and
queens,—contemporary personages whose acquaintance, by way of the newspapers and magazines, we all enjoy to the
full, as "stern rulers," "sacrificers to the public weal," "martyrs of duty," "indefatigable workers," "examples of
abstinence," and "high-mindedness"—everything calculated to make life a burden to the ordinary mortal.

Kings in Fiction and in Reality

But kings and emperors, we are told by these distant observers, are built that way; they would not be happy unless
they made themselves unhappy for their people's sake. And as to queens and empresses,—they simply couldn't live if

they didn't inspect their linen closets daily, stand over a broiling cook-stove, or knit socks for the offspring of inebriated
bricklayers "and sich."

Witness Louise, Imperial and Royal Highness, Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Tuscany, Crown
Princess of Saxony, etc., etc., smash these paper records of infallible royal rectitude, and superhuman, almost inhuman,
royal probity!

Had she castigated her own kind after royalty unkenneled her, neck and crop, her story might admit of doubt, but she
wrote these things while in the full enjoyment of her rank and station, before her title as future queen was ever
questioned or menaced.

Her Diary finishes with her last night in the Dresden palace. We do not hear so much as the clatter of the carriage
wheels that carried her and "Richard" to her unfrocking as princess of the blood,—in short, our narrator is not
prejudiced, on the defensive, or soured by disfranchisement. She had no axes to grind while writing; for her all kings
dropped out of the clouds; the lustre that surrounds a king never dimmed while her Diary was in progress, and before
she ceases talking to us she never "ate of the fish that hath fed of that worm that hath eat of a king."

Yet this large folio edition of obscénités royale, chock full, at the same time, of intensely human and interesting facts,
notable and amusing things, as enthralling as a novel by Balzac,—Louise's life record in sum and substance, since her
carryings-on after she doffed her royal robes for the motley of the free woman are of no historical, and but scant human
interest.

The prodigality of the mass of indictments Louise launches against royalty as every-day occurrences, reminds one of the
great Catharine Sforza, Duchess of Milan's clever mot. When the enemy captured her children she merely said, "I retain
the oven for more."

Royal Scandals

Such scandalmongering! Only Her Imperial Highness doesn't see the obloquy,—sarcasm, cynicism and disparagement
being royalty's every-day diet.

Such gossiping! But what else was there to do at a court whose literature is tracts and whose theatre of action the drill
grounds.

But for all that, Louise's Diary is history, because its minute things loom big in connection with social and political
results, even as its horrors and abnormalities help paint court life and the lives of kings and princes as they are, not as
royalties' sycophants and apologizers would have us view them.

There is a perfect downpour of books eulogizing monarchs and monarchy; royal governments spend millions of the
people's money to uphold and aggrandize exalted kingship and seedy princeship alike; three-fourths of the press of
Europe is swayed by king-worship, or subsidized to sing the praises of "God's Anointed," while in our own country the
aping of monarchical institutions, the admiration for court life, the idealization of kings, their sayings, doings and
pretended superiority, as carried on by the multi-rich, are undermining love for the Republic and the institutions our
fathers fought and bled for.

Un-American Folly

It's the purpose of the present volume to show the guilty folly of such un-American, un-republican, wholly unjustifiable,
reprehensible and altogether ridiculous King-worship, not by argument, or a more or less fanciful story, but by the
unbiased testimony of an "insider."

Let it be considered, above all, that a member of the proudest Imperial family in the wide, wide world demonstrates, by
inference, the absurdity of King-worship!

Of course, whether or not you'll obey the impassioned appeal of the corner sermonizer, who, espying a number of very
décolletée ladies passing by in a carriage, cried out: "Quand vous voyez ces tetons rebondies, qui se montrent avec
tant d'impudence, bandez! bandez! bandez! vous—les yeux!" is a matter for you to decide.

Seek not for descriptions of ceremonials and festivities in these pages; only imbeciles among kings are interested in such
wearying spectacles, intended to dazzle the multitude. The Czar Paul, who became insane and had his head knocked off
by his own officers, appeared upon the scene vacated by his brilliant mother, Catharine the Great, with a valise full of
petty regulations, ready drawn up, by which, every day, every hour, every minute, he announced some foolish change,
punishment or favor, but I often saw Kaiser Wilhelm and other kings look intensely bored and disgusted when obliged
to attend dull and superfluous court or government functions.

Royalty's Loose Talk

But for genuine expressions of the royal self consult Louise. Those who think that royalty shapes its language in
accordance with the plural of the personal pronoun, sometimes used in state papers, will be shocked at the "négligé

talk" of one royal highness and the "rag-time" expressions of others. Louise, herself, assures us over and over again that
she "feels like a dog," a statement no self-respecting publisher's reader would allow to pass, yet I was told by a friend
of King Frederick of Denmark that he loved to compare his "all-highest person" to a "mut," and I remember a letter
from Victor Emanuel II to his great Minister, Count Cavour, solemnly protesting that he (the King) was "no ass."

When the same Danish ruler, the seventh of his name, was asked why, in thunder, he married a common street walker
(the Rasmussen, afterwards created Countess Danner), he cried out with every indication of gusto: "You don't know
how deliciously common that girl is."

Frederick's words explain the hostler marriages of several royal women mentioned by Louise, as well as her own and
loving family's broulleries of the fish-wife order, repeatedly described in the Diary.

Royalty Threatens a Royal Woman

It is safe to say that few $15 flats in all the United States witnessed more outrageous family jars than were fought out in
the gilded halls of the Dresden palace between Louise and father-in-law and Louise and husband. Threats of violence
are frequent; Prince George promises his daughter-in-law a sound beating at the hands of the Crown Prince and the
Crown Princess confesses that she would rather go to bed with a drunken husband, booted and spurred, than risk a
sword thrust.

At the coronation of the present Czar, at Moscow, I mistook the Duke of Edinburgh, brother of the late King Edward,
for a policeman attached to the British Ambassador, so exceedingly commonplace a person in appearance, speech and
manner he seemed; Louise has a telling chapter on the mean looks of royalty, but fails to see the connection between
that and royalty's coarseness.

Perhaps it wasn't the "commonness" of Lady Emma Hamilton, child of the slums, impersonator of risqué stage pictures,
and mistress of the greatest naval hero of all times, that appealed primarily to Louise's grand-aunt, Queen Caroline of
Naples, but the abandon of the beautiful Englishwoman, her reckless exposure of person, her freedom of speech,
certainly sealed the friendship between the adventuress and the despotic ruler who deserved the epithet of "bloody" no
less than Mary of England.

Covetous Royalty

Royal covetousness is another subject dwelt on by Louise. We learn that in money matters the kings and princes of her
acquaintance—and her acquaintance embraces all the monarchs of Europe—are "dirty," that royal girls are given in
marriage to the highest bidder, and that poor princes have no more chance to marry a rich princess than a drayman an
American multi-millionaire's daughter.

Louise gives us a curious insight into the Pappenheim-Wheeler marriage embroglio, and refers to some noble families
that made their money in infamous trades; that the Kaiser adopted the title of one of these unspeakables ("Count of
Henneberg") she doesn't seem to know.

We hear of imperial and royal highnesses, living at public expense and for whom honors and lucrative employment are
exacted from the people, who at home figure as poor relations, obliged to submit to treatment that a self-respecting
"boots" or "omnibus" would resent.

Here we have a royal prince of twenty-four or twenty-five subjected to kicks and cuffs by his uncle, who happens to be
king—no indignity either to the slugged or the slugger in that—but when a pretty princess gets a few "Hochs" more than
an ugly, mouse-colored majesty, she is all but flayed for "playing to the gallery."

"High-minded" royalty robs widows and despoils orphans; re-introduces into the family obsolete punishments forbidden
by law; maintains in the household a despicable spy system! Its respect for womanhood is on a par with a Bushman's;
of authors, "lickspittles" only count; literature, unless it kowtows to the "all-highest" person, is the "trade of Jew
scribblers."

Right Royal Manners

As to manners, what do you think of kings and princes and grand-dukes who, at ceremonial dinners, pound the table to
"show that they are boss"?

Louise tells of an emperor at a foreign court ignoring one of his hostesses absolutely, even refusing to acknowledge her
salute by a nod. We hear of expectant royal heirs who engage in wild fandangoes of merriment while their father,
brother or cousin lies dying.

"Personal matter," you say? "A typical case," I retort.

"Ask the Duc du Maine to wait till I am dead before he indulges in the full extent of his joy," said the dying Louis XIV,
when the De Profundis in the death chamber was suddenly interrupted by the sound of violent laughter from the
adjoining gallery. And the fact that almost every new king sets aside the testament of his predecessor,—is this not
evidence of the general callowness of feeling prevailing in royal circles?

The Irish Famine and Royalty

In famine times, the kings and princes of old drove the starving out of town to die of hunger in the fields, and as late as
1772 one hundred and fifty thousand Saxons died of hunger under the "glorious reign" of Louise's grandfather-by-
marriage, Frederick Augustus III. And the "Life of Queen Victoria," approved by the Court of St. James, unblushingly
informs us that in 1847 "Her Most Gracious Majesty" was chiefly concerned about investing to good profit the revenues
of the Prince of Wales, her infant son (about four hundred thousand dollars per annum).

Yet, while Victoria pinched the boy's tenants to extort an extra penny for him, and "succeeded in saving all but four
thousand pounds sterling" of his imperial allowance, the population of Ireland was reduced two millions by the most
dreadful famine the world remembers!

Before the famine Ireland had a population of 8,196,597, against a population of 15,914,148 in England and Wales,
while Scotland's population was 2,620,184.

Six years after the famine Ireland's population was 6,574,278, Scotland's 2,888,742, England and Wales' 17,927,609.
Today Ireland's population is less than Scotland's, the exact figures being: Scotland 4,759,445, Ireland 4,381,951,
England and Wales 36,075,269.

Royalty Utterly Heartless

However, as the waste of two million human lives, the loss of four millions in population, subsequently enabled the
Prince of Wales to tie the price of a dukedom[3] in diamonds around a French dancer's neck and to support a hundred
silly harlots in all parts of Europe, who cares?

According to Louise and—others, royalty is the meanest, the most heartless, the most faithless and the most unjust of
the species—that in addition she herself disgraced its womanhood, after the famous Louise of Prussia rehabilitated
queenship, is regrettable, but to call it altogether unexpected would be rank euphemism.

Louise's Character

If Louise had lived at the time of Phryne, the philosophers would have characterized her as "an animal with long hair"; if
he had known her, the great Mirabeau might have coined his pet phrase, "a human that dresses, undresses and—talks"
(or writes) for Louise; as a matter of fact, she is one of those "Jansenists" of love who believe in the utter helplessness
of natural woman to turn down a good looking man.

Her great grand-uncle, Emperor Francis, recorded on a pane of glass overlooking the courtyard of the Vienna Hofburg
his opinion of women in the brief observation: "Chaque femme varie" (Women always change).

This is true of Louise and also untrue of her. While occupying her high position at the Saxon court she was fixed in the
determination to make a cuckold of her husband, though Frederick Augustus, while a pumpkin, wasn't fricasseed in
snow by any means.

The process gave her palpitations, but, like Ninon, she was "so happy when she had palpitations."

Changed Lovers Frequently

As to lovers, she changed them as often as she had to, never hesitating to pepper her steady romances by playing
"everybody's wife," chance permitting, as she intimates naïvely towards the close of the Diary.

Qualms of conscience she knows not, but of pride of ancestry, of insistence on royal prerogatives, she has plenty and to
spare.

"My great grand-aunt, Marie Antoinette, did this"; "my good cousins d'Orleans" (three of them) "allowed themselves to
be seduced"; "ma cousine de Saxe-Coburg laughs at conventionalities,"—there you have the foundation of the
iniquitous philosophy of the royal Lais. And for the rest—when she is queen, all will be well.

Her Court—A Seraglio

Louise's fixed idea was that, as Queen of Saxony, she had but to say the word to establish a court à la Catharine II;
time and again she refers to the great Empress's male seraglio, and to the enormous sums she squandered on her
favorites. If the Diarist had known that Her Majesty of Russia, when in the flesh, never suffered to be longer than
twenty-four hours without a lover, Louise, no doubt, would have made the most elaborate plans to prevent, in her own
case, a possible interregnum of five minutes even.

She thought she held the whip hand because a king cannot produce princes without his wife, while the wife can produce
princes without the king; besides Frederick Augustus was no paragon, and he who plants horns, must not grudge to
wear them.

A wanton's calculations, it will be argued,—but Louise's records show that her husband, the king-to-be, fell in with her
main idea,—that he forgave the unfaithful wife, the disgraced princess, because, as Queen, her popularity would be "a
great asset."

And Americans, our women of whom we are so proud, are asked to bow down to such sorry majesties!

Sired and "Cousined" by Lunatics

And is there no excuse for so much baseness in high places? Our royal Diarist offers none, but her family history is a
telling apology.

Be it remembered that Louise is not so much an Austrian as a Wittelsbacher of the royal house of Bavaria that gave to
the world two mad kings, Louis II and Otho, the present incumbent of the throne, besides a number of eccentrics,
among others Louise's aunts, the Empress Elizabeth and the Duchess d'Alencon, both dead; Crown Prince Rudolph of
Austria, her cousin, was also undoubtedly insane, the result of breeding in and in, Austrian, Bourbon and Wittelsbach
stock, all practically of the same parentage, in a mad mix-up, the insane Wittelsbachers predominating.

To cap the climax, Louise has eighteen or nineteen insane cousins on her mother's side!

Once upon a time Louise's prosaic and stupid great-uncle, as a young husband, felt dreadfully scandalized when his
Queen, Marie Antoinette, bombarded him with spit-balls.

"What can I do with her?" he asked "Minister Sans-culotte" Dumouriez.

"I would spike the cannon, Sire," replied the courtier.

"Enclouer le canon," if performed in time, might have saved Louise, but I doubt it.

Henry
W.

Fischer.

FOOTNOTES:

"Be civil, good people, I am the English hure," said Nell Gwyn, addressing a London mob that
threatened to storm her carriage, assuming that its occupant was the hated Frenchwoman.

"Your biography give a faithful portrait of self," said Fontenelle, the famous French Academician, to
an 18th Century Marquise, "but I miss the record of your gallantries."

"Ah, Monsieur, c'est que je ne me suis peinte qu'en buste!" replied her ladyship.

The Prince of Wales' revenue is derived from the Duchy of Cornwall, amounting to about half a
million dollars per year.

KITH AND KIN OF THE EX-CROWN PRINCESS OF SAXONY

Louise's Own Family

The royal woman whose life's history is recorded in this volume was born Louise Antoinette, Daughter of the late Grand
Duke Ferdinand IV of Tuscany (died January 17, 1908) and the Dowager Grand Duchess Alice, née Princess
Bourbon of Parma.

Louise has four brothers, among them the present head of the Tuscany family, Joseph Ferdinand, who dropped the
obsolete title of Grand Duke and is officially known as Archduke of Austria-Hungary.

He is a brigadier general, commanding the Fifth Austrian Infantry, and unmarried.

Better known is Louise's older brother, the former Archduke Leopold, who dropped his title and dignities, and, as a
Swiss citizen, adopted the name of Leopold Wulfling. This Leopold is generally regarded as a black sheep.

Louise more often refers to him in the present volume than to any other member of her family.

He is now a commoner by his own, more or less enforced, abdication, as Louise is a commoner by decree of her chief-
of-family, the Austrian Emperor, Francis Joseph, dated Vienna, January 27, 1903.

A month before above date the Saxon court had conferred on Louise the title of Countess Montiguoso, while, on her
own part, she adopted the fanciful cognomen of Louise of Tuscany.

Of Louise's two remaining brothers, one, Archduke Peter, serves in the Austrian army as Colonel of the Thirty-second
Infantry, while Archduke Henry is Master of Horse in the Sixth Bavarian Dragoons.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Only one of Louise's four sisters is married, the oldest, Anna, now Princess Johannes of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein.

The unmarried sisters are Archduchesses Margareta (31 years old), Germana (28 years old), Agnes (22 years old).

Mother Comes of Mentally Tainted Stock

Louise's mother, née Princess Alice of Parma, is the only surviving sister of the late Duke Robert, who left twenty
children, all living, and of whom eighteen or nineteen are either imbeciles or raving lunatics, the present head of the
house, Duke Henry, belonging to the first category of mentally unsound.

Louise's first cousin, Prince Elias of Parma, the seventh son, is accounted sound, but Elias's sister, Zita (the twelfth
child), developed maniacal tendencies since her marriage to Archduke Karl Francis Joseph, heir-presumptive to the
crown of Austria-Hungary.

Francis Joseph's Autocratic Rule

Louise Formerly in Line of Austrian Succession

Louise was in the line of the Austrian succession until, upon her marriage to the Crown Prince of Saxony (1891), she
officially renounced her birthrights.

Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary is Louise's grand-uncle as well as chief of the imperial family of Austria,
the royal family of Hungary, the Grand-ducal family of Tuscany (now extinct as far as the title goes), and of the Estes,
which is the Ducal Line of Modena, extinct in the male line. Finally he is recognized as chief by the ducal family of
Parma, descendants of the Spanish Hapsburgs.

Emperor Francis Joseph rules all the Hapsburgers, Austrian, Hungarian, and those of Tuscany, of Este, of Modena and
Parma, autocratically, his word being law in the family. Even titles conferred by birth can be taken away by him, as
exemplified in the case of Louise and her brother Leopold.

Royal Saxons

As a member of the Austrian imperial family, the Hapsburgers, founded in 883, Louise ranked higher than her husband,
the Crown Prince of the petty Kingdom of Saxony, whose claim to the royal title dates from 1806,—a gift of the
Emperor Napoleon.

She married Frederick Augustus November 21, 1891, while the latter's uncle reigned as King Albert of Saxony (1873
to 1902).

Louise's father-in-law, up to then known as Prince George, succeeded his brother June 19, 1902. He was then a
widower and his family consisted of:

Princess Mathilde, unmarried,

The Crown Prince Frederick Augustus, husband of Louise,

Princess Marie-Josepha, wife of Archduke Otho of Austria,

Prince Johann George, at that time married to Isabelle of Württemberg, and

Prince Max. The latter subsequently shelved his title and entered the Church July 26, 1896. He is a professor of
canonical law and slated for a German bishopric.

At the time of Prince George's ascension, there was also living the late King Albert's widow, Queen Caroline, née
Princess of Wasa, since dead.

The Marchesa Rapallo, née Princess Elizabeth of Saxony, is a sister of the late King George.

Louise and Her Father-in-Law

During King George's short reign, Louise ran away from the Saxon court, end of November, 1902.

On February 11, 1903, divorce was pronounced against her by a special court assembled by King George.

Louise was adjudged the guilty party and deprived of the name and style of Crown Princess of Saxony. As previously
(January 27) the Austrian Emperor had forbidden her to use the name and title of Austrian Archduchess and Imperial

and royal Princess, Louise would have been nameless but for the rank and title of Countess Montiguoso, conferred
upon her by King George.

Louise's Alimony Conditional

At the same time Louise accepted from the court of Saxony a considerable monthly allowance on condition that "she
undertake nothing liable to compromise the reigning family, either by criticism or story, either by word, deed or in
writing."

Frederick Augustus, King

Upon his father's death, Frederick Augustus succeeded King George October 15, 1904. He is now forty-seven years
old, while Louise is forty-two.

The King of Saxony has six children by Louise, three boys and three girls, five born in wedlock, the youngest born
without wedlock. The children born in wedlock are:

The present Crown Prince, born 1893.
Frederick Christian, likewise born in 1893.
Ernest, born 1896.
Margaret, born 1900.
And Marie Alix, born 1901.

The youngest Princess of Saxony, so called, Anna Monica, was born by Louise more than six months after she left her
husband and nearly three months after her divorce.

Louise desired to retain Anna Monica in her own custody, but though the child's fathership is in doubt, to say the least,
Frederick Augustus insisted upon the little one's transference to his care.

Allowance Raised and a Further Threat

King Frederick Augustus raised Louise's allowance to $12,000 per year, "which alimony ceases if the said Countess
Montiguoso shall commit, either personally, directly or indirectly, any act in writing or otherwise liable to injure the
reputation of King Frederick Augustus or members of the royal family of Saxony, or if the said Countess Montiguoso
contributes to any such libellous publication in any manner or form."

The Divorce of Royal Couple Illegal

After divorce was pronounced against her, Louise declined to accept the decree of the court, pronouncing the
proceedings illegal on the ground that both she and husband are Catholics and that the Roman Catholic Church, under
no circumstances, recognizes divorce. Her protest gained importance from the fact that her marriage to Frederick
Augustus was solemnized by the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The Saxon court, on the other hand, justified its
own decision by basing same on a certain civil ceremony entered into by Louise and Frederick Augustus previous to the
church marriage.

Louise Marries a Second Time

When Louise realized in the course of years that Frederick Augustus would not take her back, she changed her mind as
to the illegality of her divorce and married, September 25, 1907, Enrico Toselli, an Italian composer and pianist of small
reputation.

This marriage was performed civilly. They have one child, a boy, about whose custody the now legally separated
parents have instituted several actions in law. The boy has now been allotted to the care of Toselli's mother.

King Did Not Marry Again

King Frederick Augustus, though by the laws of Saxony and Germany allowed to contract a second marriage, has not
availed himself of the license, probably in deference to the wishes of the Vatican. At the same time he spurned all of

Louise's attempts at reconciliation, the most dramatic of which was her coup de tête of December, 1904, when she
went to Dresden "to see her children," was arrested at the palace gate and conducted out of the kingdom by high police
officials.

Other Royalties Mentioned in This Volume

Louise refers, in her Diary, to the Kaiser as "cousin." If there be any relationship between her and William, it is that
imposed by the Saxon marriage, Saxon princes and princesses having frequently intermarried with the royal and princely
Hohenzollerns, despite the differences of religion. There are four courts of Saxony despite that of Dresden: Weimar,
Meiningen, Altenburg and Coburg and Gotha.

The latter duchy's ruler, Karl Eduard, is of English descent, a son of the late Duke of Albany. Hence, Louise's
cousinship with Victoria Melita, sometime Grand Duchess of Hesse, now Grand Duchess Kyril of Russia.

Of course, Louise is closely related to all the Orleans and Bourbons.

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, who died on the scaffold at Paris, October 16, 1793, she calls her great-grand-
aunt and namesake, claiming, at the same time, most of the Kings and princes of France of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries as relatives.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

MOTHERHOOD

A sterile Royal Family once fruitful—Diary true record of self—Long legs of Countess Solms—A child only because
he can't help it—Wet nurse to Socialist brat—Royal permit for nursing—Royal negligee talk—A Saxon failing

CHAPTER II

THE SWEET FAMILY

Husband loving, but family nasty—Money considerations—Brutal caresses in public—Pests in the family—Awful
serenity—Meddle with angels' or devils' affairs—Father-in-law's gritty kiss

CHAPTER III

WEEPING WILLOW—EMBLEM ROYAL

A pious fraud—Theresa Mayer—Character of the Queen—Mopishness rampant

CHAPTER IV

MY UNPLEASANT YOUTH

Father hard to get along with—Royal imaginations—Kings cursing other kings—Poverty and pretense—Piety that
makes children suffer—Up at five to pray on cold stones—Chilblains and prayer

CHAPTER V

A FIERCE DISCIPLINARIAN

Diamonds used to punish children—Face object of attacks— Grunting and snorting at the royal table—Blood flowing
at dinner—My brother jumps out of a window

CHAPTER VI

LEOPOLD DEFENDS MY HONOR AT HIS PERIL

Punished for objecting to familiarities—Awful names I was called—Locked in the room with wicked teacher—Defend
myself with burning lamp—My brother nearly kills my would-be assailant

CHAPTER VII

PRINCES AND PRINCESSES DANCE TO THE TUNE OF THE WHIP

The result shows in the character of rulers—Why English kings and princes are superior to the Continental kind—
Leopold's awful revenge—Mother acts the tigress—Her mailed fist—"I forbid Your Imperial Highness to see that
dog"

CHAPTER VIII

PLANNING TO GET A HUSBAND FOR ME

Dissecting possible wooers at Vienna—Royalty after money, not character—"He is a Cohen, not a Coburg"—Prince
who looked like a Jew counter-jumper in his Sunday best—Balkan princes tabooed by Francis Joseph—A good time
for the girls—Army men commanded to attend us

CHAPTER IX

LOVE-MAKING

The fascinating Baron—The man's audacity—Putting the question boldly—Real love-making—Risqué stories for
royalty

CHAPTER X

MY POPULARITY RENDERS GEORGE DYSPEPTIC

The Cudgel-Majesty—Prince George's intrigues—No four-horse coach for Princess—Popular demonstration in my
favor—"All-highest" displeasure

CHAPTER XI

SCOLDED FOR BEING POPULAR

Entourage spied upon by George's minions—My husband proves a weakling—I disavow the personal compliment—
No more intelligent than a king should be

CHAPTER XII

ROYAL DISGRACE—LIGHTNING AND SHADOWS

Ordered around by the Queen—Give thanks to a bully—Jealous of the "mob's" applause—"The old monkey after
'Hochs'"—Criticizing the "old man"—Royalty's plea for popularity—Proposed punishments for people refusing to love
royalty

CHAPTER XIII

UNSPEAKABLE LITTLENESSES OF PETTY COURTS

Another quarrel with my husband—Personal attendant to a corpse—Killing by pin pricks—The mythical three "How
art thou's?"—Unwanted sympathy from my inferiors—Pride of the decapitated Queen of France is in me—Lovers
not impossible—Court to blame for them—My husband acts cowardly—Brutalizes my household—I lock myself in

CHAPTER XIV

IMPERIAL RUSSIAN ETHICS TRANSFERRED TO DRESDEN

My husband's reported escapade—Did he give diamonds to a dancing girl?—His foolish excuses—"I am your pal"—
A restaurant scene in St. Petersburg—The birthday suit

CHAPTER XV

ROYALTY NOT PRETTY, AND WHY

Fecundity royal women's greatest charm—How to have beautiful children

CHAPTER XVI

MORE JEALOUSIES OF THE GREAT

Men and women caress me with their eyes—Some disrespectful sayings and doings of mine—First decided quarrel

with Frederick Augustus—I go to the theatre in spite of him

CHAPTER XVII

THE ROYAL PRINCE, WHO BEHAVES LIKE A DRUNKEN BRICKLAYER

I face the music, but my husband runs away—Prince George can't look me in the eye—He roars and bellows—
Advocates wife-beating—I defy him—German classics—"Jew literature" Auto da fé ordered

CHAPTER XVIII
I DEFY THEM

Laughter and pleasant faces for me—Frederick Augustus refuses to back me, but I don't care—We quarrel about my
reading—He professes to gross ignorance

CHAPTER XIX

ATTEMPTED VIOLENCE DEFEATED BY FIRMNESS

Frederick Augustus seeks to carry out his father's brutal threats—Orders and threats before servants—I positively
refuse to be ordered about—Frederick Augustus plays Mrs. Lot—Enjoying myself at the theatre

CHAPTER XX

TITLED SERVANTS LOW AND CUNNING

George tries to rob me of my confidante—Enter the King's spy, Baroness Tisch in her true character—Punishment of
one royal spy

CHAPTER XXI
BANISHMENT

I am ordered to repair to a country house with the hated spy as my Grand Mistress—My first impulse to go home, but
afraid parents won't have me

CHAPTER XXII

"POOR RELATIONS" IN ROYAL HOUSES

Myself and Frederick Augustus quarrel and pound table—The Countess Cosel's golden vessel—Off to Brighton—
Threat of a beating—I provoke shadows of divorce—King threatens force—More defiance on my part—I humble
the King and am allowed to invite my brother Leopold

CHAPTER XXIII

A SERVANT-TYRANT

My correspondence is not safe from the malicious woman appointed Grand Mistress—Lovers at a distance and by
correspondence—Fell in love with a leg

CHAPTER XXIV

MORE TYRANNY OF A TITLED SERVANT

My daily papers seized, and only milk-and-water clippings are submitted—"King's orders"—Grand Mistress's
veracity doubted—My threats of suspension cow her

CHAPTER XXV

THE TWO BLACK SHEEP OF THE FAMILY UNITED

Leopold upon my troubles and his own—Imperial Hapsburgs that, though Catholics, got divorces or married divorced
women—Books that are full of guilty knowledge, according to royalty—A mud-hole lodging for one Imperial
Highness—Leopold's girl—What I think of army officers' wives—Their anonymous letters—Leopold's money
troubles—We will fool our enemies by feigning obedience

CHAPTER XXVI

FREDERICK AUGUSTUS CONTINUES VERY RAW

Manners à la barracks natural to royal princes—Names I am called—My ladies scandalized—Leopold turned over a
new leaf, according to agreement, and is well treated—The King grateful to me for having "influenced Leopold to be
good"

CHAPTER XXVII

PRINCE MAX MAKES LOVE TO ME

Wants me to consult him on all spiritual matters—Warns me against the Kaiser, the heretic bishop—Princes as ill-
mannered as Russian-Jew up-starts

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE SHAH OF PERSIA FALLS IN LOVE WITH ME

The "animal" and his show of diamonds and rubies—Overcome by love he treats me like a lady of the harem—On the
defensive—The King of kings an ill-behaved brute—Eats like a pig and affronts Queen—Wiped off greasy hands on
my state robe—When ten thousand gouged-out eyes carpeted his throne—Offers of jewels—"Does he take me for a
ballet girl?"—The Shah almost compromises me—King, alarmed, abruptly ends dinner—I receive presents from him

CHAPTER XXIX

THE SHAH COMPROMISES ME IN PUBLIC

Has only eyes for me at the grand manœuvres, and I can't drive him from my carriage—Ignores the King and the
military spectacle—Calls me his adored one—Court in despair—Shah ruins priceless carpets to make himself a lamb
stew

CHAPTER XXX

MY LIFE AT COURT BECOMES UNBEARABLE

Laughter a crime—Disappointed Queen lays down the law for my behavior—Frederick Augustus sometimes fighting
drunk—Draws sword on me—Prince George would have me beaten—To bed with his boots on

CHAPTER XXXI

PRISON FOR PRINCES THAT OPPOSE THE KING

Duke of Saxony banished—Cut off from good literature even—Anecdote concerning the Grand Dauphin and his
"kettledrums"—A royal prince's garrison life—His association with lewd women

CHAPTER XXXII

PRINCE GEORGE SHOWN THE DOOR BY GRAND-DUCHESS MELITA

A royal lady who walks her garden attired in a single diaphanous garment—Won't stand for any meddling—Called
impertinent—My virtuous indignation assumed—A flirtation at a distance—An audacious lover—The Grand Mistress
hoodwinked—Matrimonial horns for Kaiser—The banished Duke dies—Princes scolded like school-boys

CHAPTER XXXIII

MELITA'S LOVE AFFAIRS AND MINE

The Grand Duchess tells me how she cudgeled George—Living dictaphone employed—Shows him who is mistress of
the house—Snaps fingers in Prince George's face—Debate about titles—"A sexless thing of a husband"—Conference
between lover and husband—Grand Duke doesn't object to his wife's lover, but lover objects to "his paramour being
married"

CHAPTER XXXIV

MORE ABOUT THE SWEET ROYAL FAMILY LIFE

"Closed season" for petty meannesses—A prince who enjoys himself like a pig—Why princes learn trades—A family
dinner to the accompaniment of threats and smashing of table—The Duke's widow and children robbed of their
inheritance by royal family—King confiscates testament

CHAPTER XXXV

FLIRTATION DEVELOPS INTO LOVE

At the theatre—My adorer must have felt my presence—Forgot his diplomacy—The mute salute—His good looks—
His mouth a promise of a thousand sweet kisses—Our love won't be any painted business

CHAPTER XXXVI

COUNT BIELSK MAKES LOVE TO THE CROWN PRINCESS

Fearless to indiscretion—He "thou's" me—Puts all his chances on one card—Proposes a rendezvous—Shall I go or
shall I not go?—Peril if I go and peril if I don't

CHAPTER XXXVII

RAPID LOVE MAKING IN THE BOIS

A discreet maid—"Remove thy glove"—Kisses of passion, pure kisses, powerful kisses—I see my lover daily—
Countess Barnello offers "doves' nest"—Driving to rendezvous in state—"Naughty Louise," who makes fun of George

CHAPTER XXXVIII

"IN LOVE THERE ARE NO PRINCESSES, ONLY WOMEN"

A diplomatic trick—Jealous of Romano's past—The pact for life and the talisman—If there were a theatre fire the
talisman would discover our love to the King—Some ill-natured reflections—Bernhardt's escapades cover up my
tracks—The "black sheep" jumps his horse over a coffin—King gives him a beating—Bernhardt's mess-room lingo—
Anecdotes of royal voluptuaries—Forces animals to devour each other—Naked ballet-girls as horses—Abnormals
rule the world

CHAPTER XXXIX
MY PUNISHMENT

I lose my lover—Quarrels with me because I did my duty as a mother—Royalty extols me for the same reason—-My
pride of kingship aroused by Socialist scribblers—Change my opinion as to Duke's widow—Parents arrive—Father
and his alleged astrolatry—His finances disarranged by alimony payments—My uncle, the Emperor, rebukes mother
harshly for complaining of roué father

CHAPTER XL

A PLEBEIAN LOVER

In need of a friend—My physician offers his friendship—I discover that he loves me, but he will never confess—I give
him encouragement—We manage to persuade the King to further our intrigue—Not a bit repentant of my peccadilloes
—Very submissive—Introduced to my lover's wife

CHAPTER XLI

AN ATROCIOUS ROYAL SCANDAL

A royal couple that shall be nameless—The voluptuous Duchess—Her husband the worst of degenerates—"What
monsters these royalties be"—Nameless outrages—A Duchess forced to have lovers—Ferdinand and I live like
married folk—Duchess feared for her life—Her husband murdered her—I scold and humiliate my overbearing Grand
Mistress—The medical report too horrible to contemplate

CHAPTER XLII

I LOSE ANOTHER OF MY LOVERS

Happily no scandal—Rewarded for bearing children—$1250—for becoming a mother—Royal poverty—Bernhardt,
the black sheep, in hot water again—The King rebukes me for taking his part

CHAPTER XLIII

THE CROWN PRINCESS QUELLS A RIOT

Asked to play the coward, and I refuse—A hostler who would die for a look from me—Hostler marriages in royal
houses—Anecdotes and unknown facts concerning royal ladies and their offspring—Refuse police escort and rioters
acclaim me—Whole royal family proud of my feat

CHAPTER XLIV

THE NEW LOVER, AND "I PLAY THE HUSSY FOR FAIR"

Who is that most exquisite Vortänzer?—A lovely boy—"Blush, good white paper"—I long for Henry—My eyes
reflect love—"I must see you tonight. Arrange with Lucretia"—Sorry I ever loved a man before Henry—Poetry even
—I try to get him an office at court—Afraid women will steal him

CHAPTER XLV

LOVE AND THE HAPPINESS IT CONVEYS

My Grand Mistress suspects because I am so amiable—Pangs of jealousy—Every good-looking man pursued by
women—A good story of my cousin, the Duchess Berri—We all go cycling together—The Vitzthums—Love making
on the street—A mud bath

CHAPTER XLVI

FEARS FOR MY LOVE

Some reflections on queens of old who punished recreant lovers—Henry was in debt and I gave him money—
Indignities by which some of that money was earned—Husband accompanies me to Loschwitz—Reflections on
Frederick Augustus's character

CHAPTER XLVII

LOVE'S INTERMEZZO

Bernhardt takes advantage of my day-dreams—My husband's indolent gaucherie—Violent love-making—Ninon
who loved families, not men—Does Bernhardt really love me?

CHAPTER XLVIII

GRAND MISTRESS TELLS HUSBAND I KEEP A DIARY

He wants to see it, but seems unsuspecting—Grand Mistress denies that she meant mischief, but I upbraid her
unmercifully—Threaten to dismiss her like a thieving lackey

CHAPTER XLIX

ARISTOCRATIC VISITORS

I hear disquieting news about my lover's character—The aristocracy a dirty lot—Love-making made easy by titled
friends—Anecdotes of Richelieu and the Duke of Orleans—The German nobleman who married Miss Wheeler and
had to resign his birthright—The disreputable business the Pappenheims and other nobles used to be in—I am afraid
to question my lover as to charges

CHAPTER L

TO LIVE UNDER KING'S AND PRINCE GEORGE'S EYE

Abruptly ordered to the royal summer residence—The Vitzthums and Henry take flight—Enmeshed by Prince
George's intrigues—Those waiting for a crown have no friends—What I will do when Queen—No wonder Kings of
old married only relatives—Interesting facts about relative marriages furnished by scientist

CHAPTER XLI

COLD RECEPTION—ENEMIES ALL AROUND

Frederick Augustus gives his views on adultery—Doesn't care personally, but "the King knows"—"Thank God, the
King is ill"—I am deprived of my children—Have I got the moral strength to defy my enemies?

CHAPTER LII

PRINCE GEORGE REVEALS TO ME THE DEPTH OF HIS HATRED

A terrible interview—"The devil will come to claim you"—Uncertain how much the King and Prince George know—I
break into the nursery and stay with my children all day—Prince George insults me in my own rooms and threatens
prison if I disobey him

CHAPTER LIII

REVOLVER IN HAND, I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION

An insolent Grand Mistress, but of wonderful courage—Imprisonment, threats to kill have no effect on her—
Disregards my titles—My lover's souvenir and endearing words—How she caused Henry to leave me—My
paroxysms of rage—Henry's complete betrayal of me

CHAPTER LIV

FORCED TO DO PENANCE LIKE A TRAPPIST-MONK

"By the King's orders"—I submit for the sake of my children—Must fast as well as pray—In delicate health, I insist
upon returning to Dresden—Bernhardt, to avoid being maltreated by King, threatens him with his sword—The King's
awful wrath—Bernhardt prisoner in Nossen—I escape, temporarily, protracted ennui

CHAPTER LV

FRANCIS JOSEPH JOINS MY SAXON ENEMIES

Cuts me dead before whole family—Everybody talks over my head at dinner—I refuse to attend more court festivities
—Husband protests because I won't stand for insult from Emperor—I give rein to my contempt for his family—
Hypocrites, despoilers, gamblers, religious maniacs, brutes—Benign lords to the people, tyrants at home—I cry for
my children like a she-dog whose young were drowned

CHAPTER LVI

I AM DETERMINED TO DO AS I PLEASE

I reject mother's tearful reproaches—I beard Prince George in his lair despite whining chamberlains—I tell him what I
think of him, and he becomes frightened—Threatens madhouse—"I dare you to steal my children"—I win my point—
and the children—"Her Imperial Highness regrets"—Lots of forbidden literature—Precautions against intriguing Grand
Mistress—The affair with Henry—was it a flower-covered pit to entrap me?—Castle Stolpen and some of its awful
history

CHAPTER LVII

I CONFESS TO PAPA

King Albert dies and King George a very sick man—Papa's good advice—"You will be Queen soon"—A lovely old
man, very much troubled

CHAPTER LVIII

MONSIEUR GIRON—RICHARD, THE ARTIST

The King asks me to superintend lessons by M. Giron—A most fascinating man—His Grecian eyes—He is a painter
as well as a teacher—In love—Careless whether I am caught in my lover's arms—"Richard" talks anarchy to me—
Why I don't believe in woman suffrage—Characters and doings of women in power

CHAPTER LIX

THE PEOPLE THINK ME A WANTON

Credit me with innumerable lovers, but don't disapprove—Glad the King feels scandalized—Picture of the "she-
monster"—Everybody eager for love—I delight in Richard's jealousy—Husband's indelicate announcement at table—
I rush from the royal opera to see my lover—A threatening dream—Richard not mercenary like my noble lovers

CHAPTER LX

THE DAY OF JUDGMENT LOOMS UP

My Grand Mistress shows her colors—Richard advises flight—I hesitate on account of my children—My Grand
Mistress steals a letter from Richard to me—I opine that an adulteress's word is as good as a thief's—I humble my
Grand Mistress, but it won't do me much good—Pleasant hours at his studio

CHAPTER LXI

A MAD HOUSE FOR LOUISE—PROBABLY

My confidential maid, Lucretia, is banished—The new King has got the incriminating letter, but Frederick Augustus
says nothing—On the eve of judgment the King falls ill

CHAPTER LXII

KING'S ILLNESS A BOON TO LOVERS